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Back Bay residents try to stop natural-gas pipeline; can they succeed where West Roxbury, Dedham failed?

By adamg on Fri, 01/19/2018 - 12:48pm

Beth Treffeisen reports on concerns in the Back Bay over a $15-million natural-gas pipeline National Grid wants to build under and through the neighborhood to support the new towers going up like mushrooms.

No word if Back Bay residents have talked to anybody in West Roxbury about how difficult it is to stop a pipeline.

Neighborhoods: 
Back Bay
Topics: 
Business
Free tagging: 
National Grid


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Comments

By anon on Fri, 01/19/2018 - 1:15pm.

If money is a factor in the Back Bay getting then NastyGrid can fugheddaboudehd!!

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By tblade on Fri, 01/19/2018 - 1:28pm.

Remember when Hyde Park Ave was on fire for 36 hours? That was awesome. (And that was just a regular gas main, right?)

How long will a pipeline fire last?

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By Stevil on Fri, 01/19/2018 - 1:45pm.

That was a main feeding several homes during an extreme cold spell so they couldn't shut the line.

Hopefully if one of these breaks we have some redundancy and lots of other safeguards, though nothing is perfect.

Haven't followed this very closely. What's the alternative.

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By Tollhouse on Fri, 01/19/2018 - 1:47pm.

As long as the fire department decides to allow people to stay warm versus putting out the fire.

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By Waquiot on Fri, 01/19/2018 - 4:43pm.

I hope that enlightens you.

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By anon on Fri, 01/19/2018 - 5:11pm.

Are you advocating that we give up on natural gas as a residential energy source?

Our society has the knowledge for how to use natural gas safely. There's no reason to ban it because of the Hyde Park fire.

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By Nathan Phillips on Sat, 01/20/2018 - 1:27am.

Did you know that MA ratepayers are committed to paying $9.6B over the next 17 years to replace all our leaking gas pipes in the commonwealth? That's 5X the starting price of the big dig. It would pay for 20- 40% of homes in the commonwealth to switch over to cleaner, more efficient electricity for heating & cooking.

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By merlinmurph on Sat, 01/20/2018 - 5:13pm.

Hardly. Plus, more expensive.

Look at heating using electricity.
You burn gas/oil/coal to generate electricity, then use that electricity to generate heat. That is inherently less efficient because each process is only X% efficient.

Besides, you expect free pipes?

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By Waquiot on Sat, 01/20/2018 - 5:53pm.

On the one hand, if we all stopped using gas, there would be no need for the pipes. On the other hand, how much would it cost for the major upgrades to the electrical grid to get more electricity from the (gas powered) plants to our houses?

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By merlinmurph on Sun, 01/21/2018 - 11:11am.

You would be going thru two conversions: gas to electricity, then electricity to heat - less efficient.

I'm not sure what the big fear about pipes is. Yes, it's additional infrastructure, but the whole fossil fuel argument isn't very convincing.

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By Waquiot on Sun, 01/21/2018 - 1:17pm.

But don’t you get it, less natural gas in the Back Bay. I mean, wherever the electricity is generated would face the prospect of bigger and bigger natural gas pipelines, but whatever.

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By anon on Fri, 01/19/2018 - 1:50pm.

Maybe they can install oil tanks instead of natural gas and their neighbors can choke on the soot.

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By anon on Fri, 01/19/2018 - 2:02pm.

Everyone who's willing to give up their own gas usage in solidarity with the brave souls of the Back Bay, raise your hands.

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By anon on Fri, 01/19/2018 - 4:56pm.

Please raise their hands!

These pipelines are not about OUR gas use at all. These pipelines are about EXPORTING natural gas.

Thank you for your meaningless distraction dear.

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By Smart Arse on Fri, 01/19/2018 - 5:13pm.

"Hands up, don't poot."

(yeah I know. I'm an asshole).

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By Nathan Phillips on Sat, 01/20/2018 - 1:30am.

How is opposing a new pipeline to increase gas consumption the same as "giving up on has usage"?

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By Brian Riccio on Fri, 01/19/2018 - 2:57pm.

land fill in this town are absolutely and passionately committed to stopping National Grid in their efforts to perpetuate this continued use of deadly fossil fuels.

Of course, ask a few of them how they plan on getting to Canyon Ranch or the Ferry this weekend and most of them will say "The Range Rover!".

Loving the idiot that National Grid trotted out to bullshit the alleged best and brightest with this line:

“It is a double-edged sword,” said Chahbazpour. “The price for natural gas is still cheaper than renewables.”

Uh-huh. NOW it is, due in part to fossil fuel producers and the best politicians they can buy stymieing renewable energy development as much as possible.

Ask the National Grid dickhead his opinion on this: Bloomberg New Energy Finance 6/15/17

Despite years of plummeting prices for renewables, BNEF projects that over the next two decades, the cost of solar power will still drop another two-thirds, onshore wind costs will be cut nearly in half, and offshore wind costs will drop a stunning 71 percent.

Here’s how this will profoundly transform power markets in the years ahead:

By 2023, solar and onshore wind will be competitive with new U.S. gas plants.
By 2028, solar will beat existing gas generation.
Solar and wind will make up nearly a half of installed capacity and over a third of global power generation by 2040. That’s a four-fold jump in wind capacity and a 14-fold jump in solar from today.

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By Bob Leponge on Fri, 01/19/2018 - 5:04pm.

between, on the one hand,

We don't want no stinkin' pipeline, not no way, not no how

and

We want this company, which has not, to date, demonstrated a very strong approach to safety and operational integrity, to come to the table and 'splain how they're going to make this work, before we greenlight their project.

The latter is in no way NIMBYism.

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By dmcboston on Fri, 01/19/2018 - 8:49pm.

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/MVh85ui.jpg)

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By JohnAKeith on Fri, 01/19/2018 - 5:25pm.

Is there a big difference between what's proposed for the Back Bay vs. what was built in West Roxbury? WR was a huge substation, right?

Back Bay residents might be complaining but I think most realize that there's already gas in the Back Bay and this is just more gas. They complain but it's only because someone asked for their opinions.

Want a fun time this weekend? Go to the City of Boston's ISD page and search building permits in the city in the 1920s and 1930s to read about all the people that gassed themselves to death.

Have a great day!

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